A gas turbine engine typically includes a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section. Air entering the compressor section is compressed and delivered into the combustion section where it is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate a high-speed exhaust gas flow. The high-speed exhaust gas flow expands through the turbine section to drive the compressor and the fan section.
The compressor section for the gas turbine engine generally includes a rotor assembly and a stator vane assembly. The rotor assembly includes rows or arrays of rotor blades. The arrays of rotor blades extend radially outward across a gas path. The stator vane assembly includes arrays of stator vanes axially separating each of the arrays of rotor blades. The arrays of stator vanes extend inward from a radially outward case across the gas path into proximity with the rotor assembly. The arrays of stator vanes guide a working flow medium through the gas path as the working flow medium is discharged from each of the arrays of rotor blades.
A significant amount of effort is placed on increasing the efficiency of the gas turbine engine. One way to increase the efficiency of the gas turbine engine is to decrease the amount of compressor air that leaks from the compressor section. In order to reduce unwanted air leaks from the compressor section, various seals are incorporated into the compressor section to prevent the compressed air from leaking out. One type of seal used is a knife edge seal. Knife edge seals create a region with a pressure drop to deter compressed air from leaking past the seal. However, leakage occurs in other locations, such as between vanes. Therefore, there is a need for a compressor section with that reduces the loss of compressed air.